Classic Brand, Unclassic Approach | BoF

PARIS Demna Gvasalia made one surprising cartoon collaboration for Balenciaga on Saturday night, Lanvin designer Bruno Sialelli pulled another one from the bag on Sunday morning with his DC Comics connections. A train of lateral thought has taken her from Jeanne Lanvin and her role in the artistic boom in Paris between the two world wars, to the Art Deco style that informs her work, to Gotham City, Deco’s nightmare capital, to the Gothams love/hate twosome, Batman and Catwoman, and finally to 1992’s Tim Burtons masterpiece Batman Returns, illuminated by Michelle Pfeiffers’ stellar turn as cat fatale.

Sialelli presents DC Comics with several renderings made of Bat and the Cat. They like what they see and give permission to use the original artwork. It’s filtered throughout the presentation: Batman in the back of a leather coat, his face wrapped around his sneakers (Evan Mock craved that!), his car in a shirt or bag or crop top. “I would love for Michelle Pfeiffer to walk the show,” Sialelli said dreamily. Instead, she made Catwoman sparkle in a shift dress cut from metal mesh.

It was a way, Sialelli said, to place Lanvin in the modern world. And if the change sounds like a ball gown, that’s the manifesto too. He wanted to bring the atmosphere of his digital presentation for Winter 2021 to the real world. Called Rich Girl, it’s a hyperkinetic homage to Gwen Stefani, one of the MTV stars when Sialelli got her fashion education through pop videos. She loves the idea of ​​party wear because how else will her boys and girls broadcast their confidence to re-enter post-pandemic social life?

But Sialellis’ party is certainly a bit more layered than that. After all, not everyone wants to walk around with the Batmobile on their chest. In Lanvin’s file, he finds the Jeannes daisy print that Pop had made. She abbreviated her classic pliss-ed Robe de Style mid-thigh. This week in Paris also saw a massive tribute to Alber Elbaz, the man who rebuilt the Lanvin home. Sialelli acknowledged her influence with a flowing illusion tulle gown.

View from Lanvin Spring/Summer 2022. Courtesy.

When the subject of Gvasalia comes up, Sialelli suggests that Balenciaga is always about anticipation, new, new, new where Lanvin is more of a brand about now, in a strange way. Given that he spent several years working with Jonathan Anderson, it’s no surprise that Sialellis’ keynote is now a certain impossibility, defined by the looks of the man running the gamut from stormtrooper trenches in purple leather to tinsel skater shorts. He felt the pandemic had subsided so much was normal in his world that things were much more intense. There’s not much time to intellectualize what you’re doing, it makes you more spontaneous. Of course there is in Sialellis designs, the qualities in your face that would ideally seduce some and throw others into disarray.

Matthew Williams’ tenure at Givenchy has sparked a similar response. For his first live show for the brand, he returned to La Dfense Arena, Europe’s largest stadium, where he made his digital debut in March. “I wanted to continue the language of working with light and space that we started with that first show,” he explained. Light is provided by a large oval dome, like James Turrell’s artwork or a hovering UFO.

Williams is obsessed with pieces, and his collection is a masterclass in precision. The classic suit fabric is tied with neoprene so it can be cut raw. The main silhouette for women’s clothing is a flared peplum. Williams says it was inspired by a dress in the Hubert de Givenchys archive, though it also evokes the extreme form of Alexander McQueen, who led Givenchy later in the history of the house. Another part that she really likes is the layered tulle top inspired by the paintwork done in the studio. The layers are engraved to create an almost X-ray effect, a slightly gruesome echo of McQueen.

View from Givenchy Spring/Summer 2022. Courtesy.

The lasting impression of Williams’ work has always been in full control, although he says he deliberately introduces the imperfections of the past to create tension between tradition and modernity. Here, for example, is a man sewing with unfinished stitches. But the collaboration with artist Josh Smith unleashed another side of Williams, with a welcome introduction of color and craft. He describes Smith’s work as obsessive, emotional, artisanal and features the artist’s paintings and ceramics in various items. Jackolanterns, anti-freeze containers, bottles of bleach, Halloween witch hats are an unsuitable and messy counterpoint to all that comes before and after. Best of all is the Smiths Grim Reaper painting which translates into a rich knit with saturated colors and lined with see-through hoodies, also shining with color.

As with Smiths art, his craft is reflected in the macram or broderie anglaise that appears to be based on the stencils that adorn his paintings. They lend a really simple edge to the collection, even or perhaps especially when they cut shorts like shorts worn with thigh-high clogs/boots (also trimmed). For one crazy moment, you can allow yourself to imagine the Williams woman as a saloon girl on Givenchy’s new frontier.

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